Card checker



Oct. 3, 1967 5 BROWN 3,344,529

CARD CHECKER Filed March 11, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

United States Patent O 3,344,529 CARD CHECKER George E. Brown, 7940 S.Carpenter St., Chicago, II]. 60620 Filed Mar. 11, 1965, Ser. No. 439,0184 Claims. (Cl. 33-174) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A hand held pocketsize punch card checker which has a rectangular base plate and top andbottom guide rails between which a card to be checked is received.Vertical wires strung across between the rails at column spacing andabove a card on the base aid in identifying the column location of holesin the card being checked. Column indicia is printed along the guiderails between the wires and provision is made for a backgroundcontrasting or indicia carrying card.

Thr invention relates to punch card systems, and particularly to asimple accessory which is useful in facilitating checking punched cardsto see if the information punched therein is correct.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a novel device whichfacilitates the checking of punched cards.

An additional object is to provide a novel device of the above characterwhich is inexpensive and which is small and light enough to be carriedin a coat pocket.

Yet another object is to provide a novel device of the above characterwhich can be manufactured at a low enough cost so that it can besupplied to a user free as a sales promotional or advertising item.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the followingdescription of a preferred embodiment of my invention which isillustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings in which similar characters or reference refer tosimilar parts throughout the several views:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a card checker embodying the present inventionshown much as it appears when a card has been inserted therein forchecking;

FIG. 2 is a transverse sectional view which may be considered as takensubstantially along the line 22 of FIG. 1 in the direction indicated bythe arrows;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but with a portion thereof brokenaway and with the remaining portion drawn to larger scale so as betterto disclose details of the invention;

FIGS. 4 and 5 are fractional plan views similar to the left hand portionof FIG. 1, showing two different manners in which the checker may beused, depending upon the facility or desire of the user and the type ofcard to be checked;

FIG. 6 is a fractional plan view of the left end of an alternativedevice embodying the invention; and

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken in the direction of the arrows alongthe line 7-7 of FIG. 6.

Under ordinary circumstances the information to be coded into punchedcards is supplied to an operator who, by use of an appropriate machine,punches the holes in the necessary location. It then becomes necessaryto check the cards to see that no mistake has been made. One method ofdoing this is to insert the cards into a special machine which printsout the information so that it can be read in the ordinary manner. Suchmachine type card checkers are useful when a large number of cards is tobe checked, but are complicated, expensive, and essentially nonportable.There are, therefore, circumstances under which such card checkingmachines are not well adapted. As an example, frequently the informationto be coded "ice into the cards is collected from a number ofindividuals who need to check the cards against their source of originalinformation. Thus there will be a number of people who will need tocheck individual ones of a group of cards, and no one of them will becalled upon to check a suflicient number to justify the use of anyelaborate machinery.

Common practice in this type situation is to return to each of suchindividuals the particular cards for which he has supplied theinformation, and it then becomes his responsibility to check hisparticular group of cards and return them to some common location.

Thus, an individual simply checks the cards by observing the location ofthe holes and identifying the vertical and horizontal columns in whichtheholes are located, and upon the basis of this, determines whether thecard is correct. There is considerable difiiculty, however, in quicklyspotting the location of specific holes among a group of holes anddetermining the vertical and horizontal columns in which they arelocated. This is particularly a problem with the vertical columns, andthe reason for this is that the vertical columns are extremely closetogether, since a punch card normally has vertical columns within adistance of less than seven inches, about eleven and one-half possiblehorizontal hole locations per inch. Although the horizontal rows arefurther apart and there are fewer of them, mistakes are also sometimesmade in assigning the proper horizontal rows to the holes.

The device of the present invention consists of a rectangular plate 10which may be formed of metal or of other firm material, includingplastic. The bottom surface of this plate is flat, and the top surfaceis stepped down in a plurality of steps from the top and bottom edgestoward the center so as to provide a depressed center panel 12 which isslightly narrower than a standard punch card from top to bottom andterminates at top and bottom vertical ridges 13, as seen in FIG. 1. Thispanel 12 has a length somewhat greater than that of a punch card, and,at the ends, has notches 14 which extend inwardly of the plate such thatthe distance between the bottoms of the notches is somewhat less thanthe length of the punch card. The plate is also formed to provide one ormore finger access holes 16 through the bottom thereof.

At a level slightly above the panel 12 there are top and bottomhorizontal narrow ledges 18 which terminate outwardly in vertical edges20 which serve as guides. The distance between the top and bottom edges20 (as seen in FIG. 1) is slightly greater than the width of a punchcard, so that a punch card can be slid in endwise and held againstmoving from side to side by the edges 20, while being supported at itsedges by the longitudinally extending surfaces 18. Outwardly of each ofthe ledges 18 there is a second ledge 22 at a slightly higher lever, andthese raised ledges 22, just beyond the top and bottom edges of the cardto be checked, are provided with pegs or pins or bosses 24 which extendupwardly slightly above the surface 22. A relatively fine piano wire orthe equivalent, indicated at 26, is laced back and forth between top andbottom bosses 24 so that these wires form guide lines in relief, thevertical wire segments thus provided being arranged so that they arespaced apart a proper distance to lie between the vertical card columnsand thus segregate the vertical columns from each other. There is,therefore, a vertical wire between column 1 and column 2, another wirebetween column 2 and column 3, and so on. Upon the horizontal surfacesof the ledges 22 I also emboss or print, or form in raised letters, thenumbers for the individual columns as is indicated at 28.

The flat surfaces 22 extend outwardly slightly beyond the pins or bosses24 to provide clearance for the wire 26, and terminate at risesindicated at the top by the numeral 30 and at the bottom by the numeral32. These rises 30 and 32 terminate upwardly in horizontal panels 34 atthe top and 36 at the bottom, these panels in turn extending outwardlyto the edges of the device. The panels 34 and 36 are slightly above thetops of the bosses 24 and, although it is a matter of choice, I preferto make the lower panel 36 relatively narrow and the upper panel 34considerably wider. The reason for this is that the upper panel, beingwider, facilitates orientation of the device for use, and also providesa space for the printing of instructions, or an advertising message orthe like.

One manner of using the device is indicated in FIG. 5. Here a card 40slightly narrower than a regular punch card, and simply printed to havea contrasting color, is slid into place against the surface 12 betweenthe vertical edges 13. This colored card is then left in place duringuse of the device. A card 42 to be checked is slid in an endwisedirection into the space above the colored card so that it rests uponthe surfaces 18 between the vertical edges 20. The card is moved intoplace until the first vertical column where punches may appear is linedup with the first vertical column established by the wire 26. Tofacilitate location of the card in an endwise direction, a vertical line38 can be engraved or printed near each edge of the device, whichvertical lines should be lined up with the vertical edges of the cardwhen the card is properly located. If desired, the card checker can bemade the same length as the punch cardrather than being slightly longeras shownsuch that the vertical edges of the checking device can be linedup with the vertical edges of the card to establish proper location.

Once the card has been located in the checker, the contrasting color ofthe background card 40 will be seen through whatever holes have beenpunched and will therefore facilitate quickly locating the holes. Sinceeach of the holes punched in the card is isolated between two wires,these wires serve as guide lines for the person using the device as hiseye moves upwardly or downwardly to the numbers 28 printed on thechecker just beyond the top and bottom edges of the card. He can quicklydetermine, therefore, whether the hole is in the proper column withoutthe likelihood of mistake. Also, of course, since the wires form raisedguide lines, a finger can be slid along the wires toward the top orbottom so that the column in which the hole is located can be determinedby touch. An advantage of this system is that it protects the cardagainst damagescratching of the card face or enlargement of theholes-during the checking process.

The notches 14 are an aid in shifting a checked card out of the deviceand in properly centering a card for checking.

When the card checker is used in the manner just described, it has thedisadvantage that it does not aid the operator in determining thehorizontal line in which the hole is located. This for most people,however, is not so difficult to determine as is the location of thepunch mark with respect to the vertical columns. Furthermore, some cardshave the number of the horizontal column printed on the face of the cardslightly above the punching line.

The checker, however, can be used for locating the horizontal linequickly by use of a properly printed background card. One source forsuch background cards is a type of standard punch card which has thenumbers of the horizontal rows printed on the face thereof in eachvertical column across the card, as shown at 44 in FIG. 4. My manner ofusing such a number card is to trim away the edges so that it isslightly smaller than a standard punch card. This trimmed card 44 isthen slid into the frame against the panel 12 in place of the coloredbackground card 40 previously mentioned. With a printed background cardof this type in place, the card to be checked is slid into position aspreviously described, and wherever the card to be checked has a hole,the number on the background card will show through the hole and 4 willimmediately identify the horizontal column in which the hole is located,as is illustrated in FIG. 4. Thus the wires 26 identify the verticalcolumn location of the hole as previously described, and the horizontalcolumn is identified directly by the number thereof showing through thehole.

Of course, instead of using the checker as described, with the coloredcard 40 in place, it is possible simply to have the background surface12 of a contrasting color so that it serves the same purpose. If thedevice is to be used in this manner however, there is no need to recessthe surface 12 below the level of the surfaces 18, since there is noneed to provide a space for the background card.

I also contemplate that, instead of using the background card 44 whichhas the numbers of the horizontal lines repeated endlessly across thecard, these numbers could be printed directly upon the surface 12,thereby eliminating the need for steppping this surface down from thesurface 18 by an amount slightly greater than the thickness of a card.Because of the fact that dirt may collect and such numbers may in timebecome somewhat obscured, I prefer to use the numbered punch cardslightly trimmed as described, since such background cards can bereplaced from time to time at insignificant expense, replacement beingfacilitated by the finger access holes 16.

The device illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7 is essentially similar to theone described above, but is somewhat lighter and smaller and is lessexpensive It consists of an open frame having a top rail 50 and a bottomrail 52 secured, as by welding, to transverse strips 54 at the ends. Theadjacent edges 56 of the top and bottom rails are parallel and spacedapart by a distance slightly greater than the width of a card to bechecked, and the strips 54 similarly are far enough apart to receive acard in an endwise direction therebetween. This frame may be formed ofany suitable material, such as sheet metal for instance.

Thin wires 58, similar to wires 26, extend across between the framemembers 50 and 52 in parallel spaced relation, and are resistance weldedto the top and bottom members 50 and 52 so that these wires form guidelines in the same manner as do the wires 26. Similarly also, the spacesbetween the wires are numbered, as at 60, upon the faces of the top andbottom members.

The frame of FIGS. 6 and 7 is used much like the device previouslymentioned except that it is laid over the card to be checked, or thecard is held thereagainst, rather than having the card slid thereinto inan endwise direction. It can, of course, be laid upon a table surfaceand the cards to be checked can be slid thereinto, or it can be securedto a suitable base plate, screw holes 62 being provided in the cornersto facilitate this, so that the device becomes essentially the same asthe device of FIGS. 1 to 5.

It will be appreciated, of course, that the specific manner describedfor attaching the wires 58 to the top and bottom members 50 and 52, andthe wires 26 to the frame 10, are illustrative, since other wellunderstood arrangements could be used in the manufacture of this device.

Although a card checker of the type I have described is helpful toalmost anyone who is called upon to check punch cards, it isparticularly useful in the hands of people who are in the stage oflearning the manner of card checking and who have not yet developed ahigh order of facility in this operation. It is also particularly usefulin the hands of older people who have difiiculty in locating the holesand identifying the columns in which the holes are located, because oftheir inability to see clearly at short distances.

It has been found that the device is particularly useful in makingcertain that the punched holes in the card are in proper alignment intheir respective columns and appear on the device correctly between thewires. This is important because in order that the cards be properlyreceived and properly processed by the computing machine, the holes mustbe in proper alignment and if the device shows that they are improperlyaligned, then they may be reprocessed to correct alignment before beingsent to the computing machine.

From the above description of a preferred embodiment of my invention, itwill be appreciated that modifications may be introduced into the deviceWithout -departing from the spirit or scope of my invention, and thatthe scope of the invention should be determined from the scope of thefollowing claims.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and useful and desireto secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A hand held pocket size punch card checker comprising a rectangularbase plate providing a flat surface bounded by parallel guide railsalong the top and bottom edges of the surface, said guide rails beingspaced apart a distance sufficient to receive a punch card to be checkedtherebetween between the top and bottom card edges, means providing amultiplicity of straight wire guides in uniformly spaced parallelrelation in a plane slightly above the plane of a card received betweensaid rails, said wire guides extending across a card located betweensaid rails from top to bottom thereof, and the spacing between adjacentwires equaling the standard spacing between adjacent vertical columns ofthe card to be checked.

2. A hand held pocket size punch card checker comprising a rectangularbase plate providing a flat surface bounded by parallel guide railsalong top and bottom edges thereof, said guide rails being spaced aparta distance sufficient to receive a punch card to be checked therebetweenbetween the top and bottom card edges, means providing a multiplicity ofstraight wire guides in uniformly spaced parallel relation in a planeslightly above the plane of card received between said rails, said wireguides extending across a card located between said rails from top tobottom thereof, the spacing between adjacent wires equaling the standardspacing between adjacent vertical columns of the card to be checked, atleast one of said rails providing an area thereon beyond said surface,and said area having indicia printed thereon between said wires toidentify the vertical columns where holes may be formed in a card to bechecked.

3. A hand held pocket size punch card checker comprising a base, meansproviding a flat surface thereon bounded by parallel guide rails on saidrectangular base along top and bottom edges of said surface, said guiderails being spaced apart a distance sufficient to receive a punch cardto be checked therebetween between the top and bottom card edges, meansproviding a multiplicity of straight wire guides in uniformly spacedparallel relation in a plane slightly above the plane of a card receivedbetween said rails, said wire guides extending across a card locatedbetween said rails from top to bottom thereof, and the spacing betweenadjacent wires serving to identify the vertical columns of holes punchedin a card being checked.

4. The combination called for in claim 3 in which said base is formed toprovide a spa-cc for a background card located beneath the surfaceprovided for a card to be checked.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,230,102 6/1917 Bottum 73-156 X2,517,515 8/1950 Whrenberg 33174 2,690,017 9/1954 Neill 33-174 DAVIDSCHONBERG, Primary Examiner.

1. A HAND HELD POCKET SIZE PUNCH CARD CHECKER COMPRISING A RECTANGULARBASE PLATE PROVIDING A FLAT SURFACE BOUNDED BY PARALLEL GUIDE RAILSALONG THE TOP AND BOTTOM EDGES OF THE SURFACE, SAID GUIDE RAILS BEINGSPACED APART A DISTANCE SUFFICIENT TO RECEIVE A PUNCH CARD TO BE CHECKEDTHEREBETWEEN BETWEEN THE TOP AND BOTTOM CARD EDGES, MEANS PROVIDING AMULTIPLICITY OF STRAIGHT WIRE GUIDES IN UNIFORMLY SPACED PARALLELRELATION IN A PLANE SLIGHTLY ABOVE